Invitation To A Dynamite Party / The Tick Of Death

A Sergeant Cribb mystery

(First US title – “The Tick Of Death”)

The year is 1884 and a series of bomb blasts has caused mayhem in London. The perpetrators are Irishmen seeking independence. One of the “infernal machines” has even bombed the CID office at Scotland Yard. Worse, Constable Thackeray is suspected of conspiring with the terrorists.

Reluctantly Sergeant Cribb attends a course in the science of bomb-making and infiltrates the Dynamite Party. Based on the real events in London in 1884-5, the story had its own resonance ninety years on.

“Irish bombers of 1884. Lovesey goes from strength to strength. A really entertaining extravaganza, judged to a nicety.”
HRF Keating, The Times

“The period detail is admirable: the narrative both witty and swift.”
Edmund Crispin, Sunday Times

“Tense and dramatic. The best book I have read for a long time.”Birmingham Evening Mail

“Cribb Takes a course in explosives, infiltrates the mob and brings things to a happy conclusion. It’s fun.”New York Times

“Finally, my tribute to a single author all of whose books have delighted me – this appreciation known as the Uncoveted Offord Award – goes to Peter Lovesey, whose novels with Victorian backgrounds are at once fresh, very funny and cleverly plotted. Mr Lovesey’s 1974 book was THE TICK OF DEATH, and his publishers are Dodd, Mead. Please sir, I want some more!”
Lenore Glen Offord, San Francisco Examiner Chronicle